6.  The applicant was born in 1958. He lived at the Baikonur space launch site in Kazakhstan which is rented by, and under the administration of, the Russian Federation and is under joint Kazakh-Russian jurisdiction.
7.  From December 1983 to January 2004 the applicant served as a military officer in the Soviet (later Russian) Army at the Baikonur site. On 8 April 1986 he received security clearance and was granted access to information concerning rocket test launches, including the military unit responsible, launch parameters and test results, which were classified as top secret.
8.  On 1 September 1999 the applicant signed a standard contract concerning access to State secrets, which provided in the relevant part as follows:
“Pursuant to the State Secrets Act and other normative regulations concerning the protection of State secrets, of which I am aware, I take upon myself an obligation to keep confidential any information constitutive of State secrets and accept a temporary restriction on my rights which may affect:
9.  By an order of 21 May 2004, the applicant retired from the military upon reaching the age limit. His service travel document was taken away from him and destroyed.
10.  On 24 November 2004 the applicant asked the passports and visas service of the Baikonur police department to issue him with a travel passport (заграничный паспорт).
11.  On 11 May 2005 the passports and visas service sent him a notice which stated that his right to leave the Russian Federation had been temporarily suspended until August 2009 “on the basis of recommendation no. 9/196 of 16 February 2005 and the decision of the command of military unit 11284”. According to the information submitted by the Government, the applicant was last exposed to secret information on 16 December 2003 and the restriction on his right to travel was due to expire on 16 December 2008.
12.  The applicant complained to a court. He submitted that, lacking a travel document, he was unable to return to Russia from Kazakhstan or go to the Kaliningrad Region, which is the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea.
13.  On 24 May 2005 the Military Court of the 26th Garrison rejected the applicant's complaint. It found that the refusal to issue a travel passport had been lawful because the applicant had previously had knowledge of State secrets during his service in the military. Access to State secrets had not been granted to him against his will, and he had received a pay rise on that ground. Furthermore, the applicant did not need a travel document to return to Russia or to go to the Kaliningrad Region, his identity document (общегражданский паспорт) was sufficient for these purposes.
14.  On 1 July 2005 the Third Circuit Military Court upheld, on an appeal by the applicant, the judgment of 24 May 2005.
15.  The applicant sued the military commander of the Russian Space Forces, claiming that he should have received full title to his service flat on his retirement.
16.  On 5 October 2004 the Military Court of the 26th Garrison dismissed the action as having no grounds in domestic law. On 10 December 2004 the Third Circuit Military Court upheld the judgment on appeal.